Towing Temps

[StevenB]

Have some slight concerns after making a trip with the new 7,500 lb travel trailer (old one was only 4k) this past weekend. We went up the mountains towards Lake Tahoe (Ice House to be specific) and I noticed my temps climbing. I have an Air Lift bag setup installed on the truck and also use a weight distribution hitch for a smoother ride, I understand neither help with the actual towing capacity of the truck and that I am very close to the weight limit but the truck "feels" good.

The hottest I saw was Coolant 230*, Trans 210* and Oil 255* all while accelerating up the grades...air temp was in the mid 80's. Once I got on the highway cruising at 55-60 they leveled out to 215, 200 and 220 +/-5 and stuck until I got home.

Regularly driving with no towing I'm right at 205/195/210 +/-5

The camping trip sucked and I do not plan to go back up that way again. In Northern CA in the heat of summer we'll see 100-110 air temps and I plan on camping regularly but it will mostly be flat highway trips with very little hills to climb. Just wondering if I should I start planning now for cooling solutions before hitting the road for my next trip in mid-July.

 

[issanni]

I was towing a 20' car hauler loaded to around 7k+ lbs last week and over a 380-mile trip once the weather got hot outside I noticed the temps starting to go up. I saw 230 on the coolant gauge, high 240's on the oil temp, and trans around 210-212, this was with 95-96 degree temps outside and only mild grades. I think I basically found the limit of this truck hauling that trailer loaded that way and I won't do it again. There were a couple of times I pulled over to stretch and let the truck cool down some.

 

[lucskoj]

The truck will derate itself on oil around 270. Your temps seem pretty normal for towing up a grade I wouldn't worry to much. If you want to help cool it some remove the grill shutters and open up the front end some. I have had mine removed for almost 2 years now and it definitely helps cool things down some. Just every day highway driving in 85 degrees I stay around 205 oil and 200 coolant.

 

[welded]

Hi ALL
Are the grill shutters thermostatically controlled?

 

[Brady]

Hi ALL
Are the grill shutters thermostatically controlled?

Not sure this answers your question but here's a decent video.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[welded]

Not sure this answers your question but here's a decent video.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[welded]

Thank you Boostn
The video clearly shows that the shutters are temperature controlled. Make sense that they would be

 

[StevenB]

The truck will derate itself on oil around 270. Your temps seem pretty normal for towing up a grade I wouldn't worry to much. If you want to help cool it some remove the grill shutters and open up the front end some. I have had mine removed for almost 2 years now and it definitely helps cool things down some. Just every day highway driving in 85 degrees I stay around 205 oil and 200 coolant.

How was the process of removing the shutter? I'm in northern California and don't see temps below 40-45 at the coldest during times that id be driving the truck. We usually stay on average between 60-80* in the winter, spring and fall

 

[biodiesel]

Have some slight concerns after making a trip with the new 7,500 lb travel trailer

The hottest I saw was Coolant 230*, Trans 210* and Oil 255* all while accelerating up the grades...air temp was in the mid 80's. Once I got on the highway cruising at 55-60 they leveled out to 215, 200 and 220 +/-5 and stuck until I got home.

The camping trip sucked and I do not plan to go back up that way again. In Northern CA in the heat of summer we'll see 100-110 air temps and I plan on camping regularly but it will mostly be flat highway trips with very little hills to climb. Just wondering if I should I start planning now for cooling solutions before hitting the road for my next trip in mid-July.

StevenB, I see that you lost your engine and no longer own the truck. Maybe you'll still receive a notification and apply to this thread.

 

[biodiesel]

The truck will derate itself on oil around 270.

From my understanding, the truck will derate itself if the coolant or oil temp reaches a certain temp. You mentioned that the oil temp will derate around 270*F. Do you know at what temperature the coolant will cause a derate?